


A corpse bride

by Minne_My



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, F/F, Magic, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25183858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minne_My/pseuds/Minne_My
Summary: Ada accidentally marries Hecate. Inspired by the film 'the corpse bride'
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18
Collections: The Hackle Summer Trope Challenge





	A corpse bride

**Author's Note:**

> For the challenge prompt 'accidental marriage'

‘You did WHAT?!’

Ada flinched. She was waiting for that reaction. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it herself.

‘In two weeks’ time you are supposed to be marrying Ursula Hallow. What do you think people will say now?’

Ada didn’t bother protesting that she didn’t want to marry Ursula. She’d been through that countless times.

_‘I’m not in love with her’ she pleaded._

_‘Love?! What’s love got to do with it? People don’t get married for love’ retorted Alma. ‘This marriage is settled and I will hear no more about it.’_

Ada didn’t realise just how stupid she was in learning her dreaded marriage vows in the forest. She had the ring, she had the lines written on a piece of paper, what else was there to do but to practice? Of course she had to settle near that broken down tree, the one that had been hit by lightening several years back, just her luck. She spun the gold band onto a twig for inspiration and recited her vows. She thought how insincere she’d sound saying it to Ursula and hoped her voice didn’t shake too much.

**_“With this hand I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never be empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way into darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine.”_ **

Now the old magic had worked and it couldn’t be undone. Someone had claimed that twiggy finger of the corpse of one Hecate Hardbroom and now they were wedded in matrimony. No matter how much Alma raged and ranted, there was no denying that her daughter was now foolishly married to the wrong woman.

‘Well, you said yourself that people didn’t marry for love.’

Alma glared at her.

‘Ursula would have brought social standing and a substantial dowry to the marriage. What can _she_ compete with?’

Miss Hardbroom stared at her steadily. She liked this hapless woman who had inadvertently proposed to her. She would put up with her harridan of a mother, no matter how insensitive she was. But her reputation would not be besmirched.

‘I was a wealthy woman before my untimely murder’ she emphasised ‘and I believe that I still am, having been the only heir to the Hardbroom manor. I have gathered that it is in rack and ruin at this present time. I am aware that Ada did not know that but I certainly can contribute a sizable dowry, if not a place in society. I would rather give her financial security than be mired in the pitfalls of status.’

Hecate had been proven correct and her fortune had successfully shut Alma up, something that Ada had never managed to do. She whispered her thanks gratefully and Hecate’s secretive smile seemed to light her up from within.

_Ada had frozen to the spot as the twig trembled and creaked and started to rise out of the ground. A hand, an arm and soon an entire body stood before her. Her dress was old fashioned and ragged, her hair long and dark and she wore the ring triumphantly._

_‘I’m ever so sorry’ Ada stammered ‘but I need my ring back.’_

_‘Your ring?’_

_The creature looked at it._

_‘I believe it is mine now. You’ve given it to me in marriage.’_

_The next hour was the strangest of Ada’s life as it was explained what had happened, how she’d invoked the old magic. Shed a tear over what had happened to the woman who had been waiting so patiently for her lover to come back, battling with confusion and anger over what had happened to her. Ada had refused to set foot in the underworld._

_‘Then you’ll have to take me with you.’_

_Ada weighed up the consequences, warned her that society had changed since she’d known it. But creature comforts won out, even to the detriment to having her mother scream at her for the rest of her life at her idiocy. She’d have to face the consequences. She’d really screwed up now._

From that point on, Ada was to endure a steady stream of curiosity, distaste and bafflement at her predicament. Nobody wanted to be her, accidently married to a corpse. The Hallows avoided them altogether. Alma’s shame was vented on their household but Hecate didn’t seem bothered. She ignored it gracefully. It was quite a feat. Ada admired it. She had no option but to listen but as the months went on, she began to enjoy the company of her strange bride. As she heaped kindness upon her, she noticed that Hecate was starting to change. Less gaunt, more fleshed out, a spot of colour on her cheeks. It was as if she was becoming more alive the more she was being cared for.

Ada mused on the situation as they sat in the parlour drinking tea. No guest would join them but they were getting used to it being just the two of them.

‘Isn’t it silly? All of this society politics. I‘m sorry to have dragged you from the underworld.’

Hecate looked at her in such a way that she blushed.

‘I did not consent to anything I did not want or expect. I could have dragged you back to the underworld with me. Nobody has ever brought a corpse back among the living. But as long as we are together, what does it matter? Our marriage is being honoured which is the main thing.’

Well, that was the important thing, they both fondly thought.


End file.
